Rock stars get themselves into all kinds of wild situations. Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, though, once got find himelf lucky to survive an insane incident at an airport. Thankfully, his manager, Alan Niven, was there to help him.
In his book, Sound N’ Fury, Niven shared stories from his time working with the GnR fellas, whom he says he took from “the gutters of Sunset Boulevard to Wembley Stadium”. In an excerpt from the book shared by Classic Rock, Niven recalled stopping Slash from taking to the sky with a whole bunch of drugs on his person.
The incident happened at Los Angeles International Airport, where Niven said, “You used to be able to stand on a glass VIP mezzanine and watch all the international passengers below.”
Guns N’ Roses were preparing for shows in Japan when some of the members showed up at the airport with drugs
While waiting for frontman Axl Rose to show up, Niven discovered that guitarist Izzy Stradlin had drugs on him that would almost certainly be found by authorities. “They’ve got dogs and all kinds of electronic sniffing devices,” he explained to Stadlin. “You can’t take that with you.”
“You’ll get nailed for sure. Go flush it now,” Niven added. “You’ll be able to score there.” Stradlin replied, “That’s a f***in’ waste of good smack,” but wandered off to dispose of the illegal substances.
Niven later turned his attention to Slash. “Tell me you’re not carrying,” Niven said. This sparked defensive behavior from Slash, which made it clear that, yes, he too was holding. After some back-and-forth, Slash wandered off towards the bathrooms.
Both Slash and Izzy Stradlin disposed of their drugs by straight-up swallowing them
Soon, Stradlin returned, with Niven saying he “stood for a moment, wavering slightly, and then his knees buckled.” Turns out, rather than dispose of the drugs, Stradlin and Slash just took them. All. “Slash managed to make it to his seat on the 747 on his own feet, but only just,” Niven continues. “He, too, employed the ethic of waste not, want not.”
Ultimately, Slash and Stradlin made it to Japan together. Thankfully, their manager stopped them from trying to fly with narcotics, which could have landed them in prison. Niven, however, was stuck back in America waiting for Rose another day. “I had to reschedule for a flight alone with Axl the next day,” he explained. “On a different airline.”
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